Millwall-built ships

SMS Salamander was the second and final member of the Nix class of avisos that were built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. The ship saw little active use, apart from limited training exercises. In 1855, the ship was sold to the British Royal Navy in part exchange for the sail frigate Thetis and was commissioned as HMS Recruit. After entering service, she saw action in the Black Sea during the Crimean War, where she took part in operations against Russian logistics. The Royal Navy thereafter did not put the vessel to much use either, as she remained idle in Valletta, Malta, until late 1861, with the only events of note taking place in 1857 when she helped recover a gunboat and two merchant ships that had run aground in the region. Recruit was recalled to Britain in late 1861, thereafter remaining in reserve until 1869. In the 1870s she became a merchant ship, and was then used as a gunpowder magazine at Cape Town.

Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick (19 February 1789 – 18 August 1874) was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder. In 1854 he succeeded George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson to become the third president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

SMS Nix was the lead ship of the two-vessel Nix class of avisos built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. After commissioning in 1851, Nix saw little activity, apart from short training exercises and cruises in the Baltic Sea, which were frequently punctuated with boiler fires. A dissatisfied Prussian Navy decided to sell both Nix-class ships. In 1855, the Prussians sold Nix to the British Royal Navy in exchange for the sail frigate Thetis, and was commissioned as HMS Weser. She saw action during the Crimean War at the Battle of Kinburn in October 1855, and thereafter saw little activity, being based in Malta. She was ultimately decommissioned in 1865, used as a harbor ship, and then sold to ship breakers in 1873.

HMS Eclipse was a four-gun Cormorant-class first-class gunvessel launched in 1860 from the shipyard of J. Scott Russell & Co., Millwall. She served on the Australia Station, took part in the Second Taranaki War, including contributing men to a naval brigade which attacked the Maori stronghold at Gate Pā. The entire class were never satisfactory as gunvessels, partly due to their excessive draught, and Eclipse was broken up at Sheerness in 1867, only seven years after her launch.

Affondatore was an armoured ram of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), built in the 1860s by Harrison, Millwall, London. Construction commenced in 1863; the ship, despite being incomplete, was brought to Italy during the Third Italian War of Independence. Affondatore, which translates as "Sinker", was initially designed to rely on her ram as her only weapon, but during construction she was also equipped with two 300-pounder guns.

HMS Northumberland was the last of the three Minotaur-class armoured frigates built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. She had a different armour scheme and heavier armament than her sister ships, and was generally regarded as a half-sister to the other ships of the class. The ship spent her career with the Channel Squadron and occasionally served as a flagship. Northumberland was placed in reserve in 1890 and became a training ship in 1898. She was converted into a coal hulk in 1910 [see below] and sold in 1927, although the ship was not scrapped until 1935.

Shamrock was a racing yacht built in 1898 that was the unsuccessful Irish challenger for the 1899 America's Cup against the United States defender, Columbia.

SS Gothenburg was an iron-hulled sail- and steamship that was built in England in 1854 and sailed between England and Sweden until 1862. She then moved to Australia, where she operated across the Tasman Sea to and from New Zealand until 1873, when she was rebuilt. After her rebuild, she operated in the Australian coastal trade.

SS Great Eastern was an iron-hulled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London, England. Powered by both sidewheels and screw propellers, she was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers from England to Australia without refuelling. Her length of 692 feet (211 m) was surpassed only in 1899 by the 705-foot (215 m) 17,274-gross-ton RMS Oceanic, her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 701-foot (214 m) 20,904-gross-ton RMS Celtic and her 4,000-passenger capacity was surpassed in 1913 by the 4,234-passenger SS Imperator. The ship having five funnels (which were later reduced to four) was unusual for the time. The vessel also had the largest set of paddle wheels.

PS Baron Osy was a passenger vessel built for the Antwerp Steam Navigation Company in 1851.